Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded $150,000 to United Through Reading to help advance literacy opportunities for military families.
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s donation will enable United Through Reading to purchase and distribute around 15,500 books to military units and commands around the world in an effort to help U.S. service members connect with their children while they are deployed. Through the program, military children will be able to connect with their far-away parents as they follow along with a video of their mom or dad reading one of their favorite books.
“We are honored to support United Through Reading’s efforts to help deployed military service members engage in special reading moments with their children,” said Denine Torr, Dollar General’s senior director of community initiatives. “When the members of our military can’t be there for bedtime stories, we hope that the video recorded stories and books our funding provides will help create beautiful memories, strengthen the family connection and generate a love of reading.”
Children of deployed and active service members may face unique emotional and academic challenges including stress associated with repeated separations from their military parents, and educational disruptions from frequent military moves. These factors can make learning more difficult. United Through Reading provides service members the opportunity to be video recorded reading a book to their child back home. Reading aloud to a child, allowing a child to follow along with a book being read and the repetition of reading the same book are proven to bolster literacy development. United Through Reading participants report reduced separation-related stress and an increase in children’s interest in books and reading.
“We are honored to work with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to further connect military children with their family members during times of separation and to foster their love of reading,” said Chief Executive Officer.Dr. Sally Ann Zoll.
For 25 years, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has supported literacy development and learning for adults, youth and families. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $160 million in grants to literacy organizations that have helped more than 10 million individuals learn to read, prepare for high school equivalency or learn English.
